Should Houston Texans Stay Close to Home With Johnny Manziel if They Get No. 1 Pick?

By Ryan Heckman

Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Texans are officially the worst team in all of professional football at 2-11, having lost those 11 games all in a row and most recently handing the previously-labeled “worst team in the league” their third straight win in the Jacksonville Jaguars. If the Texans lose out and go 2-14, which is very possible, they would secure the number one overall pick in 2014’s NFL Draft.

So, with the issues at quarterback, would they go in that direction? Right now, arguably the consensus number one quarterback in the draft just committed to another year in school — Marcus Mariota. With him out of the pickings now, the Texans could go after someone like Teddy Bridgewater, who is the guy the majority of experts have going above all other quarterbacks.

Or, they could stay close to home and take a risk on Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.

The benefit to drafting a guy like Manziel would be that he would instantly improve Arian Foster and Ben Tate as players. He would essentially preserve a few more years on their careers. If Houston were to draft Manziel, they would likely have to transition to a different style of offense — one that you see with quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III.

With threats in the passing game as good as Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins and Owen Daniels, it would be interesting to see the Texans switch to more of a read-option type of offense. It may actually be quite entertaining to watch. Houston has threats in the back field and in the passing game, but no quarterback to fully take advantage of them.

So, would they reach on a guy like Manziel? It’s possible. Many scouts have him going early in the first round; others later in the first. Regardless, he seems to have done enough to warrant a first-round status. There’s no doubt Manziel would sell tickets and bring a certain type of excitement to the organization. But is he the very best football player they could draft? Probably not.

With that said, Manziel would certainly be a risk. But, the Texans are clearly only a good quarterback away from being a contender yet again.